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[IpunchFaces]

I have no idea if this is the right place to post something like this, but the Bay12forums has been good to me so far so here I am, looking for some advice.

I've been planning this thing for about a few months now. It's a semi-serious comic/graphic novel set in a Medieval Fantasy world of which I've already planned out the characters, setting and most of the story. I just recently finished the first page, but I'm still torn about the style I should do it in. I settled on two styles, and I've taken the liberty of repainting the first page in these two styles as well as providing a concept piece to go along with it just to show how the style's supposed to look like.

And I'm counting on you fine gentlemen to help me break this impasse.

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Spoiler: Style one: The Painterly. (click to show/hide)

Concept of Duke Lionell, Protagonist.



Page 1

This is the 'high-risk, high-reward style', as I like to call it. If I do it right, it looks wonderful. Though on bad days, it looks like roadkill left over in the heat (as evidenced by Mr Uncanny Valley in the top frame of Fig 2). Other than that, it gives me a degree of freedom and experimentation due to the lack of lineart borders. I'm not too familiar with this style though, but it's something I'm planning on phasing to sooner or later. The timing of each painting is also sporadic in this style.

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Spoiler: Style two: The Classic Cell-shaded. (click to show/hide)

Lisette, one of the characters.


Page 1 in Cell Shaded

Ye olde faithful. Simple and easy on the eyes. The lineart takes a bit of doing, but after that it's just a matter of slapping on colors. The very cartoonish look is a bit off putting for me though, but that may just be due to a color choice and design rather than the style itself.

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So what do you guys think? One or two? Or should I do an amalgamation of both? (like painterly for background and cell shadey for characters.) Any tips and constructive criticism are welcome as well. Once I choose a style, I'll set to painting the images immediately, since I already have the next dozen or so pages drafted. Thank you in advance

[Ameablable]

i prefer the 2nd style! my favourite graphic novels are the Bone series, so i might have just grown a liking to that style

[inEQUALITY]

I can't really pinpoint why, but I much prefer the second style. 

[Cheesecake]

I prefer the second style. It makes the insane guy look funny, kinda likeable actually. The first style just makes him look scary for me. That's just my opinion.

[IpunchFaces]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input.

I've already finished the 2nd page, albeit in an augmented style. I messed around with the tools in Sai and ended up using the Marker for the color and crayon for lineart. So far liking the versatility these tools give me.

Spoiler: Page 2 (click to show/hide)

Thoughts? Better/no? Too messy? Too dark? I'm awful at backgrounds of any sort so any advice is welcome.

[Ameablable]

I really like that!
keep it up!

And those backgrounds are great! dont kid yourself.
i like how you did the background people by putting not much detail into them as to not draw attention away from the main focus.
it looks great!

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Well I think your cell-shaded looks much better, and as far as mess goes I'd either go really clean or really messy, I prefer reallly messy myself.

[miauw62]

I prefer the second style, not really sure why. I've also got one other note: your text bubbles look a bit weird.

[IpunchFaces]

cheers guys.

I repainted the (nearly) whole thing in cell-shaded and it actually looks better. Gives everything a neat look since each color is in it's own territory it gives a certain vibrancy to the whole page. Also, changed the text bubbles.

Spoiler: redone page 2 (click to show/hide)

Also, anyone have any recommendations for good webcomic hosting sites?

[Cheesecake]

I like the redone thing. The smiley face in the insane guy's speech bubble is a very nice touch! Alas, I don't know any good hosting sites for comics.

[anzki4]

I still think the speech bubbles look off. Maybe try adding black outlines to them?

[Sigulbard]

Maybe you could combine the two styles? For example, like, make backgrounds and background characters painted or something.

EDIT: Oh nvm, you already had that in your OP

[smaadmin]

Nice, your 2nd style is really nicely done! Great work!

Look forward to the various art you'll create